Australia has their fifth gold medal for the Olympics after blitzing the field to break the world record in the women's 4 x 200 freestyle relay final in Beijing today.

Stephanie Rice spearheaded the swim for the Australians to win her third gold medal for the meet, joining first time Beijing gold medallists Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda Mackenzie.

Australia’s time was 7:44.39, surpassing the previous world record set by the United States last year by more than five and a half seconds.

China set an Asian Record to claim the silver medal in a time of 7:45.93, while the United States set an Americas Record to earn bronze finishing in 7:46.33.

Australia, China, the United States and fourth placed Italy all swam under the previous world record. Italy set a European Record with a time of 7:50.66.

The fastest leg of the race was swum by Pang Jiayang of China (1:54.39), who was earlier today disqualified from the individual 200m freestyle after a false start. (Story: Libby Trickett makes 100m final due to Pang Jiayang disqualification)

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Tags: beijing olympics, sport, swimming